Joining means



June 22, 1965 H. PETTERSON 3,190,

JOINING MEANS Original Filed Dec. 2'7. 1960 United States Patent "ice3,190,409 JOHNHNG MEANS Adolf Helmer Patterson, Goteborg, weden,assignor to hrofile System international, Oslo, Norway Continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 78,681, Dec. 27, 1960. This application .l'an. 3,1962, fier. No. 164,768 Claims priority, application weden, Jan. 9, H60,17 6/64 fiiaims. (ill. 189-36) The present invention relates to meansfor joining a first member to at least one other member in an elongatedcontinuous joint, this application being a continuation of my co-pendingapplication, Serial Number 78,681, now abandoned.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide extremelysimple, inexpensive, and novel means for joining together at least twomembers in an elongated continuous joint capable of withstanding highstresses as well as the leakage of fluid therethrough, which joint doesnot suffer any of the common disadvantages of conventional welded,riveted or bolted joints. A related object concerns the provision of ajoint wherein there is a uniformly distributed pressure along the entirelength of the joint, so that there are no point loads in any of thejoint members, and so that modern high strength adhesives requiringuniform pressures for setting may be utilized in the joint.

vision of a unique elongated continuous joint which may be convenientlyand quickly effected between a first member having an elongated groovetherein and a second member having an elongated flange receivable withinthe groove by an unskilled worker without the use of any special tools.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparentfrom a consideration of the present specification taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawing, in which there is illustrated incross-section for exemplary purposes the keel of a small boatincorporating the principles of the present invention to reinforce andsecure together the bottom panels of the boat.

Broadly speaking, the underlying concept of the present inventionresides in the provision of means for joining a first member to a secondmember in an elongated continuous joint, and comprises a firstcontinuous elongated element on the first member defining one side of anelongated groove, a second continuous elongated element on the firstmember disposed substantially parallel to the first element and definingthe other side of. the groove, one of the elements being resilientlydeflectable transversely with respect to the other of the elements,means defining a resiliently deflectable section in the first memberextending longitudinally thereof remote from the elements, this sectionbeing more flexible than the elements in the same direction, elongatedflange means on the second member receivable within the groove, and anelongated wedge-shaped member adapted to be forced into the groove whenthe flange means is positioned therein, whereby the stresses created inthe deflected element defining the groove will tightly secure the flangemeans in the groove, and when forces sufficient to cause bending areapplied to the joined members the extra-flexible 3,190,409 Patented June22, 1965 pending application, Serial Number 85,906. In any case,.

however, joints of this invention are elongated in nature, so that thedepth or thickness of the joint is small relative to the length thereof,although the joint need not be straight in the longitudinal direction.While the accompanying view does not illustrate the length of the joint,since such a view would reveal nothing, it is to be understood the termelongated means of an indefinite length, greater than the width andthickness of the joint, in a longitudinal direction perpendicular to theplane of the drawing.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown an elongated keel member 10which through application of the principles of the present invention isideally suited for the manufacture of small boats. As can be seen, keelmember M, which may easily be extruded from any suitable material, suchas an aluminum alloy or the like, is symmetrical about a longitudinallyextending vertical cenral plane and is provided with a verticallyextending rib 12 to which may be secured suitable frames, bulkheads, orother ordinary reinforcing and securing elements. Projecting outwardlyin substantially opposite directions from the base of rib 12 are a pairof flanges 14, the outer ends of which are bifurcated to form lower andupper longitudinally extending elongated elements or legs 16 and 18,respectively, defining therebetween l0ngitudinal 1y extending elongatedgrooves 20. Legs 16 may constitute extensions of flanges 14, and legs 18may be arranged to extend upwardly and outwardly therefrom, as shown, ormay be formed in any other desired configuration so long as there isdefined an elongated groove, preferably having substantially parallelsides. The configuration should also be such that the element definingone side of each groove is resilient or flexible with respect to theelement defining the other side in a direction perpendicular to thelongitudinal axis thereof. This is most easily achieved by forming themember of a material having resilient properties, such as aluminum,steel, plastic, or the like.

Each of flanges 14 are provided with a specially formed section 22remote from the elongated groove, between the groove and the mainsupport rib in the embodiment shown, which is of such a size andconfiguration that when forces are applied transversely to flanges 14directly at the outer ends thereof or through the members to bepositioned within grooves 2Q it will be the sections 22 which bend ordeflect and not the legs 16 and 18 defining the joining grooves. in theillustrated embodiment this is achieved by forming sections 22relatively thin as compared with the remaining structure. A portion ofone of the panel members to be joined to the keel, which panel memberswould be the bottom plates of a boat in this embodiment, is indicated at24. For purposes of the present description, only one panel is shown, inthe right hand groove, and the left hand groove is illustrated in itspre-assembly relaxed shape. Panel member 24, which may be formed of anysuitable material, such as an aluminum alloy, or the like, is insertedloosely into groove 2%, which is of a width greater than the thicknessof the panel member it is adapted to receive, and is tightly securedtherewithin by the forceable insertion into the groove of an elongatedwedge-shaped member 26, in the faces of the joint to effectively, secureand/ or seal it.

this regard, most of the modern adhesives with exceptionmannerillustrated. "Since the sides of the groove are substantially parallelin the relaxed or unstressed state,

as shown at the left of the figure, legs 16 and 18 will be deflectedaway from one anotherwhen the wedge-shaped member is forced into place.so that thestresses in the direction to the final slightly curved shapedesired, the

' 7 front ends thereof being suitably beveled so as to accudeflectedlegs will further serve to clamp the panel memelongated joining groove.Wedge angles in the order of I degrees have been found to. give verysatisfactory results with aluminum :alloys, however for any given.application and material the wedge angle which will cause the greatestpractical amountof force to be exerted against the panel member shouldbe used. I L

'If desired, the strength and seal of the increased by the coating ofthe sides of the grooves, panels, and wedge-shaped strips with asuitable adhesive, such as is shown at 28. Thus, after thewedge-shaped'strips have been forced into place, theadhes-ive will fillin theirregularities of the cooperating "surfaces of the joint toefifect a good seal and a more permanent and stronger joint.Commercially available modern hardenable plastic type adhesives, such asthe epoxy adhesives, have been found to be very effective. It should benoted, however, that the use of an adhesive is optional, since suitablejoints having more than sufiicient strength for many applications may beeffected without the use thereof. In the event an.

adhesive is not used, the joint may be made completely fluid tight bythe use of an ordinary sealing or calking compound. It has been foundthat in practice the simplest Way to apply either adhesives or sealingcompounds to a.

rately mate with each other and the rear ends shaped to fit thesimilarly constructed transom. To assemble a boat the flat pre-cutaluminum panels are loosely inserted into the appropriate grooves in therespective extruded members, the panels being bent by hand whennecessary in order to insert them into. the slightly curved portions ofthe grooves, such as near the bow of the boat. To insure joint may bejoint is to simply place a strip of thematerial in the bottom of thegroove. is subsequently forced therein the material will be compressedto the point that it will flow between all the surally high strengthdepend onthe film thickness of the adhesive for strength, and thereforeneed an even pressure along the adhesive surfaces to insure a goodjoint,

and the present joint is ideally suited to give this required. evenpressure.

When the wedge-shaped member torted to thereby weaken it, but insteadrealtively thin.

section 22-will simply be flexed ordeflected. Flexing of section 22 willin no way effect the strength of the joint the elongated member definingthe panel receiving groove,

Since the tolerable amount of deflection been placed.

that the craft will be water-tight, a strip of sealing material may beplaced in the bottom of all the grooves before the panels are insertedtherein. With the panel thus loosely inserted, an unskilled operatorusing nothing but a hammer may then forcethe wedge-shaped strips ormemers into the grooves intowhich the panel members have i The job maybe done 'quickly and eiiiciently and the resulting'craft ready for useWithout further work eing done to'it. g

Because of the ease of assembly, boats utilizing joints of the presentinvention are well suited to be sold in kit form for therelativelyunskilled boat. owner to assemble, nospecial tools being required.Alternately, manufacturers may ship' boats in unassembled form tovarious small assembly plants throughoutthe country, avoiding theexcessive freight costs which are involved when fully assembled boatsare transported. As will be appreciated, since an entire boat in acollapsed state will consistof nothing more thana plurality offlatsheets, several slightly curved extrusions, and a number of wedge-shapedstrips, the resulting package will be extremely small and the shippingcosts proportionately low. In addition, any desired surface treatmentmay be performed prior to assembly, which is simpler than treating anassembled boat. Since only a hammer is needed to assemble a boat of theaforementioned construction, such may be done out in the field whereelectricity or other, forms of power are not readily available..Assembly is further made easy by virtue of the fact that no criticalalignment or fitting problems exist since the various grooves are muchWider than the thickness of the panels they are to receive.

While only one embodiment of the present invention is illustrated, it isto be understood that the number of possible applications-of the presentjoint is unlimited. Since the present joint, is particularly suited toapplications utilizing extruded shapes for the grooved member, and

since any givenopen shape is just aseasy and. inexpensive to extrude as'any other open shape, practically any arrangement of grooves, thinsections,.support ribs, and so on may be readily formed for anyparticular application. In any case, however, joints of the presentinvention are elongated in nature, having a continuous uninterruptedjoining action throughout the length thereof. As will be appreciated,.any shape or size'members can be, joined according to the principles ofthe present invention so long as one of the members is provided with anelongated groove of suiiicient width to receive the panel member orportions thereof tobe secured. In the present specificain the samedirection; In most applications preferably at least one relatively thinsection is provided in each grooved member; for example, if thegroovedmember is to join a panel'member to a support or to another panelmember a single section would be positioned therebetween. Inapplications like the present keel, where two panels are secured to asupport through rib 12, a thin section is provided between each grooveand the rib.

Considering, for exemplary purposes, application of this invention tothe manufacture of small boats, tremendous advantages may be realizedusing joints of the pres.- ent invention. For example, an entirealuminum boat may be manufactured using nothing but several aluminum Thekeel, chines, and gun 7 Wales would, of course, .be pre-bent in thelongitudinal tion the edge. portion of a panel of sheet material to beoined is considered to be a flange even though it may not bedistinguishable from therest of the panel. A num-,

ber of possible applications and modifications of the presentinventionare disclosed in. my copending application,

extrusions forthe keel, chines, and gunwales, having suita Serial Number85,906. In any given application the particular Wedge angle utilizedwill depend upon the specific materials being joined, and should be suchthat the maximum practical forces will be obtained, as will be readilydeterminable by one. skilled in the art having knowledge without.departing from the. sphere of the invention as hereindes cribed .orthescope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Means connecting a panel member to an elongated member, saidelongated member comprising first elongated rib means formed integrallytherewith and having a first surface one one side thereof, secondelongated rib means formed integrally with said elongated member anddisposed substantially parallel to said first rib means, a secondsurface on said second rib means in facing relationship to said firstsurface on said first rib means and generally parallel thereto when saidrib means are unstressed, each of said rib means being formed ofresiliently defiectable metal and having a materially greater width thanthickness to permit a resilient bending of said rib means with respectto one another, said rib means receiving a portion of the panel membertherebetween and being spaced apart a distance greater than thethickness of said portion of the panel member, elongated wedge meanshaving a wedge-shaped cross section inserted between said rib means,small thickness edge first, when said portion of the panel member isdisposed therebetween, the outside cross-sectional configuration of saidwedge means being sufiicient when thus inserted to cause a resilientbending of said rib means away from one another whereby the panel memberwill be clamped therebetween primarily by the resilient bending stressesin said rib means, and means defining a resiliently defiectable sectionin said elongated member extending longitudinally thereof remote fromsaid rib means, said section being more flexible than said rib means inthe same direction.

2. Means as claimed in claim 1, wherein said elongated member is formedof an aluminum alloy.

3. Means as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said rib means taper incross-section toward the free edge thereof.

4. Means as claimed in claim 1, wherein the area of contact between saidrib means and one side of said panel portion and said wedge means andthe other side of said panel portion is substantially the same.

5. Means as claimed in claim ll, further comprising an adhesive onopposite faces of said panel portion.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 569,235 10/96Rockwell 20-92 647,872 4/00 Pease 20-92 1,761,451 6/30 Olmstrand ll488 X2,230,045 1/41 Boden 287-5707 2,877,877 3/59 Davis 18988 X RICHARD W.COOKE, 311., Primary Examiner.

CORNELIUS D. ANGEL, JACOB L. NACKENOFF,

Examiners.

1. MEANS CONNECTING A PANEL MEMBER TO AN ELONGATED MEMBER, SAIDELONGATED MEMBER COMPRISING FIRST ELONGATED RIB MEANS FORMED INTEGRALLYTHEREWITH AND HAVING A FIRST SURFACE ON ONE SIDE THEREOF, SECONDELONGATED RIB MEANS FORMED INTEGRALLY WITH SAID ELONGATED MEMBER ANDDISPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO SAID FIRST RIB MEANS, A SECONDSURFACE ON SAID SECOND RIB MEANS IN FACING RELATIONSHIP TO SAID FIRSTSURFACE ON SAID FIRST RIB MEANS AND GENERALLY PARALLEL THERETO WHEN SAIDRIB MEANS ARE UNSTRESSED, EACH OF SAID RIB MEANS BEING FORMED OFRESILIENTLY DEFLECTABLE METAL AND HAVING A MATERIALLY GREATER WIDTH THANTHICKNESS TO PERMIT A RESILIENT BENDING OF SAID RIB MEANS WITH RESPECTTO ONE ANOTHER, SAID RIB MEANS RECEIVING A PORTION OF THE PANEL MEMBERTHEREBETWEEN AND BEING SPACED APART A DISTANCE GREATER THAN THETHICKNESS OF SAID PORTION OF THE PANEL MEMBER, ELONGATED WEDGE MEANSHAVING A WEDGE-SHAPED CROSS SECTION INSERTED BETWEEN SAID RIB MEANS,SMALL THICKNESS EDGE FIRST, WHEN SAID PORTION OF THE PANEL MEMBER ISDISPOSED THEREBETWEEN, THE OUTSIDE CROSS-SECTIONAL CONFIGURATION OF SAIDWEDGE MEANS BEING SUFFICIENT WHEN THUS INSERTED TO CAUSE A RESILIENTBENDING OF SAID RIB MEANS AWAY FROM ONE ANOTHER WHEREBY THE PANEL MEMBERWILL BE CLAMPED THEREBETWEEN PRIMARILY BY THE RESILIENT BENDING STRESSESIN SAID RIB MEANS, AND MEANS DEFINING A RESILIENTLY DEFLECTABLE SECTIONIN SAID ELONGATED MEMBER EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY THEREOF REMOTE FROMSAID RIB MEANS, SAID SECTION BEING MORE FLEXIBLE THAN SAID RIB MEANS INTHE SAME DIRECTION.